Top 10 destinations to watch in 2016

Cuba

Cuba

Well, it finally happened.
Haven't we all been saying, like, forever that we need to
go to Cuba before it all gets spoiled ­- and of
course we have all been and fallen in love with its hip-swinging,
sun-faded colour and poetry and music dancing from every open
window. But just in case, for some reason, you never got round to
it - GO. NOW. Now that the US Embassy has reopened, the 54-year
trade embargo lifted and that frosty US-Cuban relationship is
beginning to thaw, the Americans are coming in their droves - and
so is the rest of the world. GO! NOW! Before it gets over-run and
all your friends who went 10 years ago start banging on about how
it was so much better then, and you feel like a total idiot for not
going sooner. There's still time! Havana is still dreamily dilapidated, with a
magic like nowhere else, though there are some cool new boutique hotels and bars setting up
shop in its old colonial buildings; and there are still beaches
that haven't had a five-star hotel plonked on them - but it can't
last forever. Go. Now. NEXT: QUITO>>

Quito, Ecuador

Quito, Ecuador

Casa Gangotena hotel,
Quito

The South American Destination of the
Year for the past three years now is not Rio, or Buenos
Aires, but Quito. The Ecuadorian capital, which sits high in the
mountains, has the most beautifully preserved 16th-century old
town, charming streets of Spanish colonial buildings, which have
long been a favourite of backpackers.

Now a smarter set is sticking around to discover its exciting
old-new mix. New life (and new oil money) is being mainlined into
the city, and it is being spanked up from bottom to top, with a new
airport, and an entire underground system pegged to open in 2016.
Boutique hotels, restaurants, bars and galleries are popping up in
its centuries-old buildings (the pioneer was lovely Hot List hotel
Casa Gangotena).

Our former editorial assistant Isobel Finbow found Quito so
thrilling that she left us and moved there. 'Quito has shrugged off
its old image of being the halfway house for portly Americans and
straggly backpackers on their way to the Andes or Galápagos islands
and has become a slick destination in its own right,' she says. 'A
new crop of restaurants with experimental chefs and industrial
decor have sprung up around the La Floresta neighbourhood (check
out Laboratorio, in a former factory on Lizardo Garcia, and Urko),
always filled up by local trendies and the architects and film
producers working in nearby collectives. Nightlife has moved south
to the Old Town to drink Ecuadorian-themed cocktails (Bloody Marys
with leche de tigre - sort of ceviche juice) at Cuchara de
San Marcos and artisanal beers at Bandidos. San Marcos is the area
everyone is trying to move to, with a mixture of art galleries,
boutique hotels and off-beat bars. The street is narrow and
colonial, with flower baskets hanging off spindly balconies.' NEXT:
BORACAY>>

Boracay, Philippines

Boracay

This tiny little jewel of an
island is the chilled-out alternative to a beach holiday on Palawan
or one of the Philippines' bigger islands - but it's also
got a great barefoot-dancing-in-the-sand nightlife. For better or
worse, Boracay got its own airport this year, which means it is
quicker and easier to get to - but it won't remain our secret for
much longer.

White Beach is the big tourist draw - and it is quite
sensational, those 4km of gorgeous, blindingly white sand; and
Punta Bunga Beach and Puka Shell Beach, next to five-star Shangri-La's Boracay Resort & Spa, are both
beautiful. Hot for 2016 is Aqua Boracay by Yoo, a brand new design hotel
by Philippe Starck and John Hitchcox, set on Bulabog Beach on the
island's north coast, where kitesurfers zip up and down
offshore.

'Surfers have been hanging out on Bulabog Beach, drinking
coconut-water cocktails in bamboo shacks, for years,' says Hazel
Lubbock, online deputy editor. 'And where the surfers go, the rest
of us follow - now staying in the white-washed comfort of the
striking new Aqua Boracay by Yoo. The island's new airport means
that, from Manila, you can be catching waves on Bulabog in less
than an hour.' NEXT:
LISBON>>

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon

Portugal

Good old Lisbon, quietly doing
its own thing all these years - and now suddenly it is one of the
most dynamic cities in Europe. Some are calling Lisbon 'the new
Berlin', thanks to its exciting startup and arts scene and
population of energetic young creatives, drawn by its quality of
life and low cost of living.

And what's not to love? It is sunny and beautiful, beside the
sea; a good-time city, and one of Europe's best-value. Artists,
architects and designers are flourishing here - poke around the
higgledy-piggledy streets of the now-hip Barrio Alto and Principe
Real neighbourhoods, and for every charming junk shop and vintage
emporium there's a contemporary new gallery space housed in one of
its grandly faded old houses. Graffiti is even funded by the
government here.

The city's food and drink scene is so exciting that it is being
compared with Barcelona's. One of the hottest openings of 2015 is
Mini Bar, a
buzzy, stylish, small-plates kind of bar from star chef José
Avillez (his Belcanto restaurant in the Chiado district has
two Michelin stars) - a tip from Nuno Mendes (the Lisbon-born chef
of Chiltern Firehouse), who reveals more of the best new restaurants in Lisbon in this exclusive interview.

Along the waterside, the seedy neighbourhood of Cais do
Sodré has been spruced up and painted pink - its central Rua Nova
do Carvalho, aka 'Pink Street', is now the city's coolest place to
party. Come summer, though, we're striving upwards: Lisbon has some
top rooftop bars and pools: two new ones include Deck 7 on new
five-star hotel Porto Bay Liberdade, and Limão on the charming
H10 Duque de Loulé.

The new Berlin, the new Barcelona… Whatever - this is the new
Lisbon, with a style and a groove all of its own, and we are loving
it for that.

Ireland

Ireland

Talk about a revival. Ireland
has completely turned its fortunes around, with its economy the
fastest-growing in the EU in 2015. Dublin is a city on its uppers,
buzzing along in a permanent state of celebration - and this year
there is a lot to celebrate, with €22m to blow on the party of the
century in March 2016 for the centenary of the Irish Republic.

'It's a sure sign that things are back on track when there are
people in the pubs mid-week again (it went a bit tumbleweedy for a
while),' say Deputy Chief Sub-Editor Grainne McBride. 'Dublin has
reinvented itself as a youthful tech hub, with all the blue-sky,
San Francisco-esque creative thinking that Google and the gang have
brought to town, and the food scene is more exciting than ever. And
the lovely town of Galway chalked down its second Michelin-starred
restaurant in September, making the West Coast a serious rival to
the East in terms of foodie credentials.'

The whole country has been working on that traditional Irish
welcome, and making it easier for travellers to explore. First, by
train. Glorious, old-fashioned, tartan-and-polished-wood train:
Ireland is getting its very own Orient-Express. The new Belmond Grand
Hibernian makes its inaugural journey this August, a grand tour
of Ireland in five-star style, complete with an observation car for
the best views of the rolling landscapes.

For road-trippers, the Wild Atlantic Way opened last year - all
2,500km of it, more country lane than highway, meandering down the
West Coast from Derry to Kinsale, with the most dramatic rocky
coastline dropping away to one side; and, cropping up all along it,
photo-opp stop-offs at its most instagrammable points, such as Skellig Michael in County Kerry - call it 'the Kingdom of Kerry',
which has just played a starring role in the new Star Wars film and
in The Lobster, and has a new 216km-long
cycle route opening in 2016. Not to be outdone, the eastern regions
have gathered together their most captivating experiences and
created Ireland's Ancient East, a journey through 5,000 years of
rich history; while in Northern Ireland 2016 is the year of food
and drink.

Among the new places to stay en route, apart from the country's
most romantic castles, we're looking forward
to stargazing from a four-poster bed in a bubble-like forest dome
at Finn Lough
Resort in Enniskillen, also opening in 2016.

Zanzibar, Tanzania

Zanzibar

Tanzania

It's castaway-fantasy stuff,
Zanzibar. Tourism has taken a bit of a knock in recent
years; but the allure of this archipelago endures, thanks to its
phenomenal beaches: powder-white coral sand and the bluest sea.
Lately it has been busy reinventing itself as a fly-and-flop island
holiday destination, a kind of 'new Mauritius', with several new
high-end barefoot-in-the-powdery-white-sand chic hotels being built
where the luxury is so laid-on, the beachy-blue view so dreamy,
that many find no reason to leave.

Per Aquum has taken over the former Essque Zalu and, as with its
Maldives outpost, transformed it into beachfront luxury, suites and
villas and restaurants right on the sands of Zanzibar's northern
coast. A Park Hyatt set up home in a former mansion in Stone Town.
The honeymoony private island AndBeyond Mnemba Island has refurbished its 10
bandas - palm-thatched suites flanked by tropical greenery and open
to the sea breeze. And there's more to come in 2016 and 2017:
contributing writer Lisa Grainger has tipped us off about White
Sand Luxury Villas' new beachside rooms, where the waves roll in;
and there's a brand new hotel in the offing, the Zuri Zanzibar.

Nepal

Nepal

Prayer flags flutter
over Bodhnath Stupa, being renovated after the earthquake

Nepal is officially reopen for
business. Last spring's earthquakes damaged parts of the Kathmandu
Valley and most of Nepal's tourism in 2015. But the famously
friendly Nepalese have been beavering away restoring Kathmandu's
historic buildings and rebuilding roads and trails all over the
country, and now the Foreign Office has declared it safe to go
back. Go now and help rebuild it - if not with your bare hands then
with the support of your visit.

For serious trekkers, World Expeditions does The Full Nepal
Traverse. It is 1,700km. For normal people without 152 days to
spare, the same company does 15-day walking trips to both Annapurna and Everest -
and the big news is that they have set up permanent camps where you
can actually get a hot shower and sleep in a properly comfy bed
(mattresses! Pillows! Unrivalled luxury!), then bond over blisters
and travel blogs with fellow trekkers around the stove in the
dining room.

Not a mountain goat? AndBeyond does a posh six-day mountain and jungle tour with highlights that
include a mountain lodge with an infinity pool, and a riverside spa
in Chitwan National Park, and a wildlife safari riding on the back
of an elephant. Yes, things are definitely on the up in Nepal.

Iran

Burma is so 2012. The hottest
travel destination of the moment is Iran. The idea of Iran as a holiday spot was
rather unlikely, right up until now. Suddenly it is the most
exciting place to go, thanks to the sanctions-relief deal which was
signed in the summer, and the reopening of the UK embassy in
Tehran. Even smart tour ops are setting off on expeditions there,
for more adventurous travellers who want a good (and safe) bed to
sleep in. Cox & Kings and World Expeditions both do tours inspired by
the rich legacies of the Persian Empire (Tehran, Shiraz,
Persepolis, ancient Yazd and Isfahan). The landscapes are epic, the history and culture
fascinating, the people overwhelmingly friendly. And just think of
those first-to-go traveller kudos points you'll notch up at
parties.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

Rio has been a destination to
watch pretty much forever - and this year it will be crowned
Carnival Queen when it hosts the 2016 Olympics. We can only dream
of what that sequinned spectacular opening ceremony is going to be
like - and just imagine the parties! The whole city bumping and whooping
and shimmying up against one another on the streets.

Hundreds of restaurants are popping up, with chefs from all over
the world bringing their signature cuisines with them, creating an
international food scene which is a fresh new thing for Rio.
Gourmet burgers and street-food trucks are the food trends to watch
(both exemplified by top chef Roberta Sudbrack, whose eponymous Michelin-starred restaurant has started serving
posh burgers, while her new SudTruck sells the best hotdogs on the
streets of Rio). And around 150 new hotels are opening in time for
the Rio 2016 Olympics which starts on 5 August 2016; the newest to
catch our eye is colonial Casa Marques, high in the boho district of
Santa Teresa, which has stunning views across the city.

Fiona Kerr, Word of Mouth Editor, tips the hottest neighbourhood
to hang out in right now as hip Jardim Botânico, artsy and alive.
Look out for Casa Camolese, opening in June, which will house a
restaurant, cocktail bar, deli, craft brewery and underground jazz
club.

Barbuda, Caribbean

Barbuda

Caribbean

North Beach,
Barbuda

The Caribbean beach island to
go to in 2016? Condé Nast Traveller Deputy Editor Issy von
Simson tips Barbuda, the lesser-known little sister of Antigua.
'Barbuda is currently probably the most lo-fi of the Caribbean
islands, with just three feet-in-the-sand hotels and a smattering
of cows on it. But its landscape will change in 2016 when Robert de
Niro and Aussie billionaire James Packer start work on restoring
the remains of the iconic K-Club.'

K-Club was once the island's most - and only - luxury place to
stay; Diana, Princess of Wales was among its guests, who brought
her young princes here to avoid the busier, spanglier neighbouring
islands of Antigua and St Barth's. The revamped hotel and beachclub
will not open until 2017 - but by then the secret will be out. If
laidback and low-key is what you seek, go now, before everyone else
does.